


The Bonds That Hold Us

by Weevilo707



Series: 8th Bird Bonded [1]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bonding, But it has a happy ending i promise, Episode: e060-066 The Stolen Century Parts 1-7, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Gen, The power of friendship, a slight twist on the typical 8th bird AU, and they are in full force in this fic, eighth bird Angus, it gets real sad for a minute, sorry but bonds are literally just the power of friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-08-06 00:00:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16377554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Weevilo707/pseuds/Weevilo707
Summary: Taako wasn't supposed to give a shit. He was the one who could push for the hard choice in their group, who could turn away from a world and let it crumble to dust behind them. He'd done it twenty one times now, doing it once more shouldn't be an issue.This was all the beach year's fault. That damn ocean had worn away the sharp edges he'd had in place to protect himself from shit like this, and he hadn't been able to build them back up in time. He'd never admit it, but kids had always been a particular soft spot for him.And Angus was a brat, but fuck, just this once Taako didn't want to leave it all to dust in his wake.





	1. Chapter 1

The thing was, Taako was supposed to be the one who didn’t give a shit. He was good at not giving a shit. He had to be the fucking pragmatist all the time, because everyone else was too softhearted to realize sometimes you had to cut your losses and run. Or stop before you had any losses to begin with.

They couldn’t let themselves get attached to every world and friendly face they came across, not when it’d be dust in a year. Or at least, Taako couldn’t, and if he wasn’t there to side with Cap’n’port and talk some sense into this bunch of too good, kindhearted dickheads he was sure they would’ve already torn themselves apart trying. 

Sure, sometimes he went too far one way, and Lup needed to pull him back, but that was how they worked. They balanced each other and shit always worked out in the end because of it. They managed it for 21 cycles before this, and their entire lives past that. They had a  _ system,  _ and Taako’s place in that system was as the one who could make the hard decisions because he  _ didn’t give a shit. _

This was all the beach year’s fault. It fucked everything up.

Taako let himself chill too much, he let himself start caring. Barry was in love with his sister and she hadn’t said anything to him yet but he knew how she worked and she’d been smitten with that nerd for a while now. They had all the time in the world to figure it out, Taako had told Barry so, and fuck, maybe it had gotten to him a little.

Maybe he’d started pulling down some walls. And maybe he hadn’t been able to build them back up before they’d left for the next cycle.

It was still bullshit. He still should’ve been better at closing himself off.

But fuck, he’d never admit it to anyone, but kids had always been Taako’s soft spot.

“Hello sir! You’re one of the aliens, aren’t you?”

“I don’t see who’s asking,” Taako said, not looking up from his map. This world was a pretty rich one, full of peoples and a few smatterings of cities and towns. They’d only been here a few weeks now, but they were already having difficulties tracking the light. This planet’s continents were all scrunched up on one side, and the rest was ocean. A much less welcoming ocean than the one they’d just been dealing with, according to the locals.

They’d barely seen the faint streak of the light falling this time. The only thing they could tell was that it hadn’t fallen on land.

“Right here. I’m a fair bit shorter than you sir, but since you’re sitting down I don’t think it should be a problem,” this person said again, and this time Taako glanced up to see a kid. Human kid, Taako was terrible at guessing human’s ages, so he wasn’t even going to make an attempt. He had dark skin and black curly hair underneath a hat that was just as fancy as the rest of the clothes he was wearing.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about kid, do I look like an alien to you?” he asked. He knew this planet had elves, so hopefully he could get this kid to lay off. Taako wasn’t even sure how he heard about them, they tried to keep on the down low when they could. His parents must be one of the government officials they’d talked to about the light.

“Well sir, I suppose you don’t  _ look _ like an alien, but I’m fairly certain you are. Um, Taako right? Unless I’m wrong and you’re Lup, in which case hello ma’am,” the kid said, and  _ that _ got Taako’s attention.

“It’s Taako,” he said, not sure what was going on here. “And uuuh, who the fuck are you?” he asked, because it was weird enough that this kid knew they wasn’t from this plane. The fact that he knew his name too added another level of suspicious. Not that this brat seemed to think anything of it, all excited smiles, which Taako couldn’t blame him too much for. After all, he wouldn’t be excited to meet him?

“My name is Angus McDonald sir and I’m the world’s greatest detective. Well, I guess I should specify this world, since I’ve never been to another, and I’m not sure how I would stack up against the detectives there. Probably pretty well, but I’m not trying to be braggy,” this kid, Angus, said.

Taako stared at him for a moment, letting that info dump settle in his head. Then he burst out laughing, which caused Angus to frown in clear annoyance.

“Well, that’s rude. I’m not sure how things work on your planet sir, but here it’s impolite to laugh in someone’s face like that,” Angus said, and Taako slowly managed to bring himself back under control.

“Oh don’t worry, it’s definitely rude back on the ol’ home base too,” Taako informed him. The kid still looked annoyed, and Taako figured he should tell him to fuck off. He had shit he needed to get done, and they only had a year to find the light. He couldn’t waste time entertaining some random kid.

But he was still feeling soft, sharp edges that were supposed to protect him from these kinds of dumb mistakes worn down and dull from a year at rest. So instead he snickered a bit more before leaning back in his chair and turning his full attention to this kid.

“Alright, what’s the skinny kid? If you’re such a good detective I probably don’t need to tell you that me and my group are pretty busy,” he said. Taako didn’t actually expect the kid to be a great detective, he still figured he was some government official’s son who wanted to check out what the aliens were up to. Still, he could humor him for a couple minutes, maybe give the brat an autograph or something.

“That’s actually precisely what I wanted to talk to you about. You all are looking for something right? I can tell you’re not like the evil aliens in books that come to enslave us, you’re trying to save our world from something, right?” Angus asked, and once again Taako found himself surprised. Angus sounded a lot more serious than he expected.

“Yeah, that’s the short of it. What exactly of it?” he asked. They tended not to tell a lot of people about the light of creation, not if they could help it. People tended to want to keep it for themselves once they had it, and the more they could avoid that the better. So either someone had been talking more than they should, or this kid was actually a halfway decent detective.

“Well, like I said I  _ am _ the world’s greatest detective. If you’re looking for something, I’m just the person to help you all out!” he said, a huge grin plastered across his face.

That was the moment Taako should’ve fucking walked away and not look back. They had plenty of experience finding the light, they didn’t need help from an actual toddler.

Instead, he snorted in amusement again, getting another irritated look from Angus as he did. “How old did you say you were again pumpkin?” he asked, Angus frowning even deeper at the question.

“Well, I didn’t say sir, but I’m ten. I can assure you my age does not hamper my skills though,” he said, sounding confident well past the point of being cocky. Taako could really knock this brat down a peg if he wanted to. Ten fucking years old. He’d been through a dozen cycles before Angus was even born, and then another dozen before getting to this point. There was no way they’d need help from a baby, and he might as well go back to playing with his clue books or whatever the fuck.

That’s what he should’ve said. But fucking hell, he liked this kid. He seemed like an obnoxious brat, kinda reminded Taako of himself.

“Alright then Agnes-”

“It’s Angus si-”

“Show me what you can do. You able to read a map? The thing we’re looking for is called the light of creation. We managed to see it falling through the sky from this direction, but your world has a big, shitty ocean so we’re a little stumped,” Taako said, getting right back into his work. If Angus couldn’t keep up, then he could tell the kid to beat it so he could get shit done.

Except well, Angus was able to keep up. It wasn’t like working with Lup or Barry, the kid was smart but like Taako had thought, they had fucking decades of experience on him. Still, he knew the lay of this world a hell of a lot better than Taako did, and he was managing to keep a grasp of what Taako was doing. Even as he explained less and less to see how much Angus could piece together on his own.

The answer to that question turned out to be a fucking lot.

Taako hadn’t meant to spend as much time at this library as he had. He’d been planning on doing some quick research about this world before heading back to the ship. Before he knew it though it was dark outside and Angus was yawning through every other word.

“I don’t- I dunno a lot about ocean currents. I can- ah, I can do some research though,” Angus said, rubbing at his eyes and clearly trying to fight off sleep.

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” Taako said, starting to pack up his research. He’d have to run this stuff by Lup and Barry, but it actually felt like they made some progress here.

“Are you gonna be here tomorrow sir?” Angus asked, and Taako paused slightly in packing up his shit. He hadn’t been planning on coming back, but it was a nice library. Good to have a bunch of information about this planet at his fingertips. Usually they tended to do most of their searching in the Starblaster, but usually they had more to go off of too.

“Eh, probably. I still got some junk I need to look into,” he said with a shrug.

“Alright then! I’ll see you tomorrow sir!” Angus said, quickly gathering up his own things to leave.

“I never fucking said anything about that,” Taako called after him as he ran off. It didn’t seem to deter the brat any.

And Taako still ended up seeing him tomorrow.

And the next day.

And pretty damn consistently for the next couple of weeks.

Taako told himself that he wasn’t getting attached to the kid, because he wasn’t. He wasn’t that far gone after all, he was very aware that whether they got the light or not, this brat would be dust in a year. Angus was fucking smart though, he couldn’t argue with that.

Having some extra help while Davenport was off with Barry and Merle, gathering what intel they could from people along the shore wasn’t bad. Angus knew as much about underwater currents and shit as Taako did, but from all the marks they’d managed to make on their ocean floor maps, they seemed to be getting somewhere.

“I think at some point we might have to actually go out in the ocean. It’ll be kinda dangerous though, does your spaceship do water too?” Angus asked, huddled over a map.

“It can  _ fly  _ my dude, we don’t need to actually touch down,” Taako said, he had a point though. As soon as Cap’n’port and the others got back he’d have to check to see if they found any promising leads. If not their next best bet was to get out and start looking.

“So this is where you’ve been hiding out. And you went and replaced me too! What, were you tired of being the little brother, had to go find your own?” Lup said, suddenly leaning pretty much her full weight on Taako’s back, smushing him down into the table.

“Fucking- we’re twins, seven minutes doesn’t fucking matter,” Taako grumbled, trying to push her off of him to no avail.

“Hello ma’am! You must be miss Lup, Taako talks about you a lot,” Angus said, and Taako could feel her grin from where she was perched comfortably on his head.

“Does he now? Well I guess my cold, heartless bro hasn’t completely abandoned me then,” she said, completely ignoring his objection to the little brother comment. Taako had stopped struggling at this point, letting himself stay slumped against the table.

“Yep! He tries to hide it, but it’s real obvious that you and the rest of your crew are incredibly important to him,” Angus said, holding up a finger like he was giving an important lecture. Taako managed to reach around the table until he got hold of a thin notebook and tossed it at the kid’s head. He ducked without even blinking, not seeming put off by it in the least.

“Alright, we done here? We’re done here. Lup, you’re gonna break my fucking spine, get off,” he grumbled. Thankfully she listened to him and he was able to sit back up again, crossing his arms in a huff.

“Baby,” Lup said, no actual bite in her voice. “So, who’s your new little friend here?” she asked, and that was about what Taako expected. This was why he hadn’t mentioned Angus to anyone. He was just another face he wouldn’t be able to remember in a couple of cycles. It didn’t really matter who he was.

“Kid’s a detective. He’s helping us figure out where the light is,” Taako said, and he could see the flash of surprise across Lup’s face at that. Yeah, he couldn’t blame her for not expecting that one.

“My name’s Angus McDonald ma’am! I’m this world’s greatest detective, it’s very nice to meet you!” Angus said, holding out his hand for her to shake, which of course Lup did. She looked like she was trying not to laugh a little bit, which was better than Taako had done.

“Well, if we got you helping us out I’m sure we’ll find the light in record time,” she said. Her voice was that not entirely genuine happy tone Taako knew she tended to use with kids.

“Please don’t patronize me ma’am, I might be young but I am very good at my job,” Angus said bluntly. Taako immediately fell into a fit of laughter, especially from the look on Lup’s face at being called out.

“Yeah Lup, kid’s a fucking professional, don’t be rude,” Taako said between bouts of laughter.

“Yeah alright, that tracks,” Lup said, in that tone of voice that Taako knew meant she was talking about more than the situation at hand. He didn’t comment on it though, because frankly he didn’t want to know. It wasn’t his business whatever dumb ideas she was getting in her head.

“So, you need something or you just here to be a distraction, some people are actually trying to get work done,” Taako asked after a minute. He had that feeling that Lup was gonna grill him about this later, and he’d rather put that off as much as possible.

“Mainly I was wondering where my dear, precious brother had gotten off to, but now that I’m here scoot over. Lemme see what you two got so far,” she said, and Taako certainly wasn’t going to turn down the help.

Taako was right about Lup grilling him later over it. It almost wasn’t even that though. Yeah, she wanted to know why the sudden desire to let people help in finding the light, let alone some little kid. Taako didn’t have much of an answer, other than they’ve gotten help before, he didn’t see why this time was any different.

Then she was fucking warning him, the same shit he always had to warn  _ her. _ Don’t get too attached, we’re going to leave in a year, we might not even find the light. Nothing he needed to be told, because he already knew all of it, and it wasn’t going to be a problem.

He fucking swore to himself that it wasn’t going to become a problem.

He probably shouldn’t have been surprised, when it went and started becoming a problem.

The light of creation was proving…  _ difficult _ to find, having landed out in the middle of what felt like an endless fucking ocean. The beach had felt like a haven during the last cycle, but now Taako was sick of it. They’d done a few dives in a couple spots he and Angus had marked as likely. Each one turned up empty, and the ocean was dark and choppy and dangerous, nothing like the calming sea Taako had become accustom to over the last cycle.

Before he’d even realized what was happening, the year was a third of the way over. They still had time though. They still had eight months to try and save this world.

Despite his better judgment, Taako could feel himself getting more and more invested in this world’s safety.

“There’s this trench here, do you think it could’ve fallen down there?” Taako asked, chewing a pencil as he pointed to a spot on the map. Angus frowned when he looked, shaking his head.

“I really hope not. Even with a water breathing spell, I don’t think any one would be able to survive the pressure all the way down there to check,” Angus said. It was a fair point, even if it was one Taako wasn’t too thrilled with. He went back to scouring the map, looking for a slightly less deadly place to check.

“Um, sir?” Angus spoke up after a moment. Taako didn’t bother looking away from the map, grunting an affirmative. There had to be  _ someway _ to find the light. “You’re a pretty great wizard, right?” Angus asked, and reluctantly Taako looked away from the map.

“The fucking best, natch. What of it?” he asked, not sure where Angus might be going with this. Maybe he thought of some way to help boost their search with magic?

“It’s just- I know you’re busy, trying to save my world and all, so I understand if you don’t want to or if you don’t have the time. But um, I was just wondering if… maybe you… could teach me magic,” Angus said, getting progressively quieter as he made his request. Which that hadn’t been what Taako was expecting.

For the second time he should’ve told this kid to fuck off. It didn’t matter if he learned magic if the world was destroyed in less than a year. They had more important things to do.

Like an idiot, that wasn’t what he did.

“You want to learn magic?” was what he ended up asking instead. Angus nodded, suddenly looking so fucking hopeful it made Taako’s stomach sick.

“Yes! I’ve always wanted to, and I’ve read lots of books about the theories behind it! I just haven’t managed to get any spells to come on out,” he said, sounding disappointed again at the end.

He really should’ve said no.

“Yeah, why the fuck not. I should have an old spare wand on the Starblaster, I’ll bring it tomorrow,” he said with a shrug. He tried to ignore the way Angus’s face absolutely lit up at that.

“You really mean it sir? You’ll teach me?” he asked, practically bouncing in his chair now. Kid got excited over every little thing though, it wasn’t actually a big deal.

“Sure, I mean, listen. Finding the light is still priority number one here, but taking a break to teach you a couple spells ain’t gonna be the thing that’ll cost us finding it,” he said. Which was true. If they didn’t find it in the next eight months whatever hour or two he spent showing Angus prestidigitation wasn’t going to be the deciding factor.

“Of course Taako! I promise it won’t be too distracting! Thank you so much!” Angus basically shouted. Taako was about to tell him to chill, they were in a library after all. Before he could even blink though Angus was out of his seat and wrapping Taako up in a hug.

It was just because of surprise that Taako waited a few seconds before starting to pry the brat off of him. He didn’t give a shit about this kid, that was his whole deal.

“Alright, enough of that,” Taako said, pulling himself out of Angus’ grip. “How about we give it a break for the day actually. I feel like we’re not making any new headway here, maybe focusing on some other shit for a bit will help,” he added, and Angus nodded.

“That’s a good idea sir! It helps to be able to look at something with fresh eyes,” he said, starting to gather up his things.

Taako found himself wondering where Angus went off to when they weren’t looking for the light. He’d never actually confirmed if he was some government official’s kid after all.

“I’ll see you tomorrow sir!” Angus called as he ran off, still too loud to be appropriate for a library. Well, it didn’t matter. Angus wasn’t his problem, and he’d be gone in a year anyway.

For some reason Taako was trying to think about that fact less and less.

Unsurprisingly, Angus took to magic like a frog to water. Shit wasn’t perfect the first try, his mage hands were deformed and the light spell flickered and message went through like a distorted game of telephone. It was obvious that the kid wasn’t used to not getting things perfect right away, but it was still good. Taako told him this shit was good, because it was. Taako could spot arcane talent when it was in front of him, and Angus was full of potential. He let the kid keep his old spare wand too, since it wasn't like he needed it much. They'd picked up plenty of arcane focuses through the cycle, parting with one wasn't gonna matter much.

Another month passed. Then two. They were halfway through the year, and they still couldn’t find the light.

Taako really fucking didn't like thinking about that, so he started focusing on other things. It turned out Angus didn’t have parents. He’d been living with his grandpa until he’d died last year, since then he’d been on his own. It wasn’t like he was bad off, grandpa had apparently been a rich fucker who left it all to his last remaining relative.

It wasn’t anything like the way he and Lup had grown up.

The fact that they were in the Starblaster’s kitchen now, Angus scowling over a mixing bowl had nothing to do with it. Despite having fresh eyes they still weren’t making any progress on finding the light. Taako had gotten hungry during their magic lesson, and he wanted some fucking cookies. He only brought Angus along because Lup had been kinda hard to find these days.

“Okay sir, I think that’s everything,” he said finally, but Taako didn’t move from his spot on his stool.

“Pretty sure you’re still forgetting something there boychik,” Taako said, letting himself sound as amused as he felt. This wasn’t the first time he’d tried to teach Angus how to cook something. The kid was a master detective and a pretty fucking good budding wizard, but cooking somehow seemed to still be a struggle for him.

“Almond meal, four, eggs… cream, um, salt and butter… the actual elderflower…” he muttered, listing off the ingredients to himself. He was chewing on his lip as he thought it over, and Taako didn’t make any move to help him out on this one. Kid was smart, he could solve this mystery. “I don’t…” he started to say, and then Taako saw the look of realization on his face. “Sugar! I can’t believe I almost forgot  _ sugar,” _ he said, and with that Taako stood up.

“Luckily cha’ boy’s here and can keep you from making these heinous errors. Now let’s get some sugar in these bad boys so they don’t go tasting like death,” he said, starting to work some sugar into Angus’s batter.

By night they had some fucking delicious macarons, and he sent Angus home with most of them. The rest of the crew would just eat them if he didn’t anyway.

Although, Taako hadn’t seen much of the others lately. Sure, they’d all go do their own things a lot of the time, it wasn’t anything new. Maybe after the year on the beach, when no one had anything to do it felt more pronounced.

That didn’t feel right though. Kinda felt like people were avoiding him.

Taako wasn’t sure what he’d actually find when he started creeping through the Starblaster, looking for anyone. He didn’t think he’d get lucky enough to actually overhear Lup and Barry whispering to each other.

“Please, just talk to him. Maybe he’ll listen to you,” Lup said, and Taako instantly stopped moving. Keen elven ears were letting him overhear this conversation, but Lup had them too. If he moved too much she’d realize he was there for sure.

“I mean, I can try. Of course I’ll try, but why haven’t you said anything to him?” Barry asked back, and Taako still wasn’t sure if they were talking about him yet.

“I have, but he keeps brushing me off and trying to pretend it’s not a big deal,” Lup said, sounding frustrated.

“I don’t- I mean, I’ll try to say something I guess, but I don’t know why he’d listen to me if he wasn’t going to listen to his sister,” Barry said, and yep. They were definitely talking about him.

“Sometimes he needs a couple people drilling something into him, and besides, you’re his best friend,” Lup said, saying that last part like it was obvious. Which, Taako was pretty sure he hadn’t made a best friend leader board or anything like that, but he couldn’t object without revealing himself. He still didn’t know what the fuck they wanted to talk to him about either.

“What- I’m not- really?” Barry asked, sounding pretty shocked by that. Which Taako wasn’t sure if he should be offended by that or not.

“Of course you are babe. Listen, it’s just… on the one hand, it’s really nice seeing Taako finally starting to open up again, you know? It worries me sometimes, how much he can shut the world out. I know it’s his way of dealing with shit, but it’s good seeing he can still care about people other than us, ya know?” Lup said. Taako was suddenly considering heading in there and cutting this shit off at the pass. Whatever dumb things they were worrying about weren’t a problem, he had it under control.

“But,” Barry prompted before Taako could decide what to do, and so he stayed listening in as Lup continued.

“But this is going to hurt him. A lot. I worry about him cutting himself off too much yeah, but I know  _ why _ he has to do it. Like, god Bear, you saw them out there right?” she asked, amusement and worry both clear as day in her voice.

“Yeah, it’s actually pretty cute. You don’t think there’s any of those cookies left, do you?” Barry asked.

“Knowing Taako he had Angus take them all with him. I’ll make you macarons later,” Lup said. Which wasn’t true. Taako had kept some of them. Sure, he sent Angus off with most, but the kid put most of the work into making them, it only made sense to.

“Uh, thanks,” Barry said, and Taako could hear how flustered he was from here. “I uh, I’ll try to see what I can do. I’m just not sure how much help I’ll be,” he added, his tone more serious than Taako figured it needed to be. He was  _ fine, _ they didn’t need to worry about him like this over nothing.

“Thanks Barry, it probably won’t work, but I still want to try, you know?” she said, and Taako could imagine how she was chewing on a nail or the end of her hair right now.

“I know,” Barry said, his voice soft, like he really did understand what Lup was so worked up about. Maybe he did, but Taako sure as fuck didn’t.

“It just, it wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t…” she trailed off, and Taako was getting frustrated now. Why the  _ fuck _ did they care about this so much? It wasn’t like this was the first time one of them had gotten attached to some aspect of a plane they were going to leave. Sure, it wasn’t Taako’s typical MO, but he wasn’t going to fall apart over this place.

He didn’t  _ care _ what happened to one fucking kid.

Taako could hear movement where Lup and Barry were, but it didn’t sound like they were coming to the door. Taako couldn’t tell if Lup had moved to sit closer to Barry, or if Barry had moved over to Lup.

“It’s going to kill him, you know? When he realizes we’re not going to be able to find the light. That he’s gonna have to leave Angus to the hunger,” Lup said, her voice even quieter and softer than it’d already been. Like she was scared to voice those thoughts at all. Despite how quiet she’d been Taako still managed to hear her.

Taako didn’t get genuinely angry with Lup very often. She was the most important person in the fucking world to him. They could barely consider themselves functional individuals, the two of them were so horribly codependent and shit.

But in that moment, he was fucking furious.

Without thinking he stomped down the rest of the hall, slamming the door to his room as he went in and probably alerting Lup and Barry to the fact that he’d been listening in that whole time. He couldn’t give a shit though, heading over to his desk and pulling out some of the ocean floor maps they’d been working off of.

They still had six fucking months left. There wasn’t any reason to go giving up on this world now. They could still find the light. They could still  _ save _ this place.

It was dust to him either way, but just this fucking once, Taako needed to save this world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this was supposed to be a oneshot but then i got to 5k words and i was only halfway done so it's now a two-shot. because that's just my life now. i've had this idea for an 8th bird ango for a while, and i'm probably gonna end up adding onto it here and there because 8th bird AUs are my jam. 
> 
> as always, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy~


	2. Chapter 2

Taako doubled down on the search for the light after that. They were running out of time and there was a lot of ocean left to search.

Angus must’ve noticed the shift in his mood. That wasn’t much of a surprise, he was a smart kid and a detective and shit. So when Taako started burying himself back into maps and books Angus fell back into line, helping Taako try and make sense of the massive amount of area left to look at.

They still took breaks for magic lessons. Shit wasn’t that dire yet, and Angus was coming along nicely. Taako was still sticking him with cantrips, but he might have to start on some first level spells soon enough. It wouldn't surprise him if he could get the kid up to second level spells before they left this world. He was a fast learner.

Barry did end up trying to talk to him, like a week after that overheard conversation. Maybe they thought if they waited a little bit he’d forget and it wouldn’t be an issue.

Taako didn’t know why it  _ was _ an issue. They’d lost worlds before. The idea that this might be another poor decision in an ever growing list of failures shouldn’t bother him so bad.

He’d leave whenever Barry or anyone else tried to bring up Angus. That wasn’t important, not right now. Even if there was stuff he had to deal with when it came to the kid, he could deal with it after they found the light, or after they left this world. If they were worried about  _ him, _ it could wait.

Eventually Taako told them that if they weren’t going to help him find the light then there wasn’t anything else to talk about. It seemed to get the message across clear enough. They were still helping him look, of course they were. None of them liked to give up on a plane, even if they’d had to a few times.

Under normal circumstances, this probably would’ve been one of those times. Taako tried not to think about why it wasn’t normal circumstances.

So the others and Angus, they helped him look. They helped him look for three more fucking months, and there was still nothing. No new information to go on, no sign of the light no matter how many times they went out into that fucking ocean. They had a quarter of the year left and if Taako had thought the others had started writing off this world before he didn’t know what to call the obvious flagging hopes now.

It was starting to piss him off, the sad glances and bullshit attempts to placate him. It was stupid. He didn’t  _ care. _

And if he did, they could deal with that later. He didn’t need their pitying looks and awkward attempts to cheer him up every time a search for the light came back empty.

Splitting up to keep looking for the light was just so they could cover more ground. If it meant that he didn’t have to deal with the others continuing to put feelings on him that weren’t there, that was an added bonus.

They were ten months into the year now. Angus had started on first level spells a while ago, and had a couple down pat. He’d learned pretty much every low level divination spell Taako could think to teach him at this point, identify and detect magic and comprehend languages. Said those were the kind of spells that would help him the most with his detective work, and Taako couldn’t argue with that. Kid still didn’t have spellslots for shit though, but he was coming along well.

“Is no one else coming with us today?” Angus asked, sitting on the edge of a dock, his feet dangling off above the water. Splitting up also meant they couldn’t all take the Starblaster, so they were renting some regular boat. Taako glanced over from where he was setting shit up for them to set out before nodding.

“Davenport’s taking the ship out along the Stillbarge coast, and Lup and Mags are combing over the North Temple Sea today,” Taako explained. Angus hummed in a sort of noncommittal way to show he heard, staring out over the water. Taako didn’t pay it much mind. It was obvious there was something going on in his head, but it wasn’t any of his business. If the kid wanted to say something he could.

“Okay, I think we’re set,” Taako said after a minute. Normally at something like that Angus would spring up and be ready to head out before Taako could blink. Hell, normally the kid would’ve been under his feet trying to help the whole time Taako had been setting up the ship.

If something was wrong, Taako shouldn’t care. They didn’t have time to waste sitting around moping for whatever reason. He should tell Angus to get a move on or else he’d leave him behind.

He should stop  _ caring _ about this damn kid so much.

Instead, Taako went over and sat down on the dock next to him. It felt awkward, they needed to get moving, but Angus clearly had his head wrapped up in some thoughts. If this was going to get into feelings territory Taako didn’t know how to deal with that for someone who wasn’t Lup. Maybe he’d had a couple drunken cries with some other crew mates over the cycles, but even as a human Angus was way too young to get drunk.

And again, Taako shouldn’t even care about this. He didn’t want Angus opening up to him, because Angus was going to be  _ gone _ in two months. Whether they saved this world or not, they were leaving him behind.

“The fuck’s wrong with you? If you’re getting sick or something you better keep it away from me. Who knows how your weird alien germs will affect my delicate constitution,” Taako said, and Angus laughed some at that. That was good. Laughing was good.

“I’m not getting sick sir, but I promise not to kill you with alien germs anyway,” he said, and then the amusement dropped from his face again. Fuck, Taako didn’t know what to do with that. He didn't know what to do with any of this. 

“Then what the fuck’s got you all loom and gloom?” he asked, and Angus sighed heavily. Sometimes he sounded a lot older than he actually was, it was something Taako wasn’t sure how to feel about. Made it easier to talk to Angus for sure, otherwise he would’ve chased him off ages ago.

Taako could remember how he and Lup had to grow up fast though. Angus’s situation was obviously different, but the effect was pretty much the same.

“It’s not that I don’t appreciate you trying sir, because I really,  _ really  _ do. You don’t have to keep up an act in front of me though,” Angus said, which didn’t make much sense to Taako.

“Uh, you’re gonna have to go into some detail here because I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about,” he said.

“We can stop looking now if you want, I mean,” Angus said, and now Taako was frowning hard. He didn’t like where this was going, not one fucking bit.

“What do you mean? We haven’t even left yet, why would we stop now?” he asked, but Angus was shaking his head. He hadn’t been looking at Taako throughout this whole conversation, instead staring out at the early morning ocean in front of them. Now though he turned towards him with a look more serious than he’d been expecting.

“Please sir, I might be a little kid but I’m a good enough detective to know when a trail has gone cold,” Angus said, and Taako couldn’t even say anything for a moment.

And then he was furious.

“Did the others put you up to this?” he snapped, and Angus looked genuinely surprised and confused at that.

“What? No, of course not sir. I mean, I guess some of them aren’t as good at hiding it as you are, but no one’s said anything about it to me. That’s the problem, you guys don’t have to keep pretending everything is going to be okay if it’s not,” Angus said.

That took Taako back and fuck. Fuck, of  _ course _ no one talked to him about this. He couldn’t believe he’d even considered that. No matter how worried Lup or the others might be for him they wouldn’t go dragging some kid into it. Angus didn’t  _ need _ any of them to talk to him about it either. Kid was just smart like that.

“Okay, but I’m not  _ pretending,” _ Taako insisted. He wasn’t. They still had time, they could save this place.

“We can’t search the whole ocean. It could’ve landed anywhere, the current could’ve taken it anywhere. It could be at the bottom of a tench or hidden in an underwater cave or lodged in a deep sea vent,” Angus started to rant, and the kid was trying to put on a brave face. The more he spoke though, the clearer it got how fucking scared he must be. “We’re not going to be able to find it in time. The world’s going to end, isn’t it?”

Taako wanted to say fuck no. Of course they were going to find the light, it was going to be  _ fine. _

But they’d made so little progress. They were throwing darts at a map and looking at places at random at this point. They only had two months left, and an ocean over the size of a hemisphere as their haystack.

“Sorry pumpkin. Sometimes it’s just bad luck,” Taako finally said after a moment, the softness in his voice surprising him. He didn’t want to fucking give up, but denial could only carry him for so long.

If this was any other world, he would’ve thrown in the towel with the others ages ago.

He couldn’t really claim surprise when Angus threw himself into his lap, clinging to him in a shaky hug. Couldn’t really tell if Angus was crying or not either, but Taako couldn’t blame him if he was. Kid was pretty much given a death notice, for himself and his whole goddamn world.

So he didn’t push him away, instead resigning himself to being stuck on the docks for a bit, rubbing Angus’s back in some weak attempt at comfort. If Angus wanted something better than that he’d have to go to someone else, because Taako wasn’t exactly good at this shit. This was already more than he needed to offer.

Eventually Angus seemed to calm down some, but he was still staying curled up in Taako’s lap with his face hidden. Fuck, he was so small.

They’d talked a few times as a crew, if it was right for them to keep the impending apocalypse from the worlds at large or warn them. Generally they tried to warn people, give them some chance to, Taako didn’t fucking know what. Not survive, if they didn’t get the light a plane was doomed, simple as that. Still, he guessed it felt right to give the planets some warning.

Maybe it was better if people just didn’t know though. Ignorance is bliss and all that junk.

“Hey, you’ve ever been fishing?” Taako asked suddenly. Angus finally pulled away some at that, and his eyes were red and Taako’s shirt was wet, so he’d definitely been crying through all that. Seemed like he must’ve pulled himself together a little while ago, and now he was frowning in confusion.

“Um, no?” he said, wiping at his face some.

“Well, you’re gonna now,” Taako said, climbing to his feet before shaking his robe out some. Angus followed after him still looking confused, which was fair. It was a pretty big subject jump from the end of the world.

“Do you fish sir?” he asked, reluctantly following Taako as he headed back over to the boat. They already rented it, might as well put some use to it.

“Of course I fish. It’s a good way to get a meal when you don’t have shit, and it’s relaxing,” Taako told him. Conjuring junk that wasn’t food wasn’t his specialty, but he managed two fishing rods after a bit, and the rest was easier. Angus was watching him the whole time with a look of complete befuddlement on his face.

“Sir, why do you want to teach me how to fish all of a sudden?” he asked, which was a fair question. Still Taako shrugged, starting to undo the rope holding them to the dock and taking that as an excuse not to look at him as he spoke.

“If you’ve got something else you’d rather be doing with your time name it. Just figured we might as well take the opportunity since we’ve got the boat,” he said, kinda muttering for the most part.

“Oh,” Angus said, like he suddenly understood something. “No, I- I think fishing is a really good idea,” he added, which lifted some tension in Taako that he wasn’t sure why it was even there.

At the end of the day they actually managed to catch a few fish decent enough for cooking. Only one of Angus’s was worth keeping, but the kid was beaming with pride over the pretty dinky thing. Still, Taako cooked them to perfection, because that’s how he do, and it seemed like Angus actually had fun.

Two months passed way too fucking fast. He should’ve stopped hanging out with the brat when it became clear this world and everyone on it was doomed. He didn’t though, because he didn’t want to.

That was the core of the problem though, wasn’t it?

They still did some more cursory searching, but it was clear that they weren’t finding shit. It was pointless, but there was still that chance, however slim.

They were drawing up on their year now though, and there was nothing to do but face the facts.

They hadn’t found the light.

This planar system was going to be consumed by the hunger.

And there was  _ nothing _ any of them could fucking do about it.

Continuing to spend time with Angus after that realization was pointless. It was worse than pointless, it was an active detriment. Taako fucking hated to admit it, but Lup knew him better than he knew himself. This was- fuck.

This was going to  _ hurt. _

But he couldn’t bring himself to cut the kid out. Shit, he was the one who was going to be consumed by some plane devouring eldritch horror, not Taako. The least he could do was chill with the kid before it happened. Give him a distraction by teaching him hideous laughter and having him practice on Magnus when the dude wasn’t paying attention.

Trying not to be too obvious in the way he was counting the days, and knowing it didn’t matter because Angus was too smart for his own good.

They were in the library when the hunger finally showed up. It wasn’t far from the Starblaster. They were all being careful not to stray too far from the ship at this point. After some two dozen times though, it was easy to notice when the colors drained ever so slightly out of the world, the too still storm that was suddenly hanging in the sky outside the window.

He shouldn’t have been surprised when Angus noticed something was up.

“Is everything alright sir?” he asked, looking up from the spell he’d been copying down. He finally knew enough spells that it was worth keeping a spellbook. Not that it mattered now.

“We need to get going,” Taako said simply, and this shouldn’t be so difficult. He’d never had a problem  _ leaving  _ before.

“Need to go where? Can I finish this before we go?” he asked, which… fuck. Yeah okay, Angus was a smart kid, but he was still just a  _ kid. _ It made sense that he hadn’t quite caught on yet.

“No. It’s not like-  _ we _ need to go,” he tried to emphasize. There was another second where Angus still looked confused, before Taako saw the realization dawn on his face, followed by poorly concealed terror.

“Oh,” he said, clearly trying to contain the urge to panic. “I- are you  _ sure? _ It’s really- you have to leave now? You can’t stay a little longer? Just one more day?” Angus asked, and fuck he looked so  _ scared. _ Taako must’ve done a pretty good job of distracting him, but there wasn’t anything left to do with that. Even still, he found himself checking the sky, for once wondering how long they could push their luck before they  _ really _ had to leave.

“I’ve got maybe another hour before I gotta be back at the ship,” he said finally, watching as Angus slumped in his chair at that answer.

“Oh,” he said simply, pulling his knees up to his chest. There was a stabbing pain in Taako’s chest at the sight. Fuck, he should’ve listened to Lup and Barry. He knew this had been a bad idea from the start, why did he have to be so  _ fucking stupid. _

It was all fucking pointless but he couldn’t- he had to do  _ something. _

“Do you want to come with me?” he found himself asking before he could think about it. Angus looked up from where he’d curled in on himself, frowning in confusion.

“I thought you said you can’t take people with you,” he said, and Taako nodded.

“We can’t. It’s- I’m not gonna fucking lie to you, we’re not really sure what happens to people when we try to leave with them. They’re just, you know, not there when we reset. I’m pretty sure they’re erased when we exit the system,” Taako explained and Angus nodded. He still looked scared, because of fucking course he did. The shit Taako was describing was terrifying, especially to a little kid.

“You said the hunger consumes the worlds it comes to if you don’t get the light in time. If- if I stay here, I’ll become a part of that thing, right?” Angus asked, and they typically didn’t go into so much detail about the hunger with people if they didn’t  _ need _ to know. Angus was a curious kid though, and if he wanted to know, Taako couldn’t think of an appropriate excuse not to tell him.

“Yeah, if you don’t end up being killed by it’s minions first that is,” Taako said, and Angus flinched some at that. “It’s- Lup thinks that the people inside of it might not actually be like, dead, you know? That we might be able to figure out a way to get them out someday,” he added. Angus was quiet for a long moment, seeming to think the options over.

“I- I think I’d like to stay with you sir, if that’s okay,” he said quietly, and Taako nodded.

“Course it is pumpkin,” he said softly, and he fucking hated this. Looking back out the window again, the storm looked just that bit darker, and Taako sighed. “We should get going now. Get to the ship before people start panicking,” he added, and Angus unfurled himself from where he’d still been curled up.

“That sounds like a good idea, um,” he said, and he was looking at his spellbook uncertainly. Which was fair, it wasn’t like there was bunch of a point to bringing stuff.

“You can bring it if you want,” Taako said, and there was another moment of hesitation before Angus stuffed the book in his bag. Bringing shit made it feel less like he was walking the kid to his death. With that they left the library and started heading over to where the Starblaster was waiting.

If Taako kept a firm grip on Angus’s hand as they walked, it was just so he wouldn’t lose him in the nervous crowds of the city. Somehow people could always tell when something was off.

The gangplank of the Starblaster was down as they approached, and Taako wasn’t too surprised to see Magnus waiting nervously in front of it. He ran up to the two of them as they got close, seeming relieved.

“Taako, we weren’t sure if you were gonna, you know, come on the ship this time,” he said, which was stupid. Taako didn’t stay on planet unless he was fucking forced to. He was about to tell him as such when he saw Magnus flinch, only then seeming to notice Angus. “Er, Taako? Why is Angus-” he started to ask, but Taako cut him off.

“Was in the middle of a magic lesson, can’t skip out on that,” he said simply. Taako went to try and move around Magnus, still pulling Angus along beside him. The fucking dude quickly put his huge ass body in their way though.

“Taako, fuck, you know he’s not gonna-” he started, but once again Taako didn’t let him finish.

“You think I don’t fucking know what’s gonna happen?” he snapped, shutting Magnus up. “At least this way, he doesn’t have to be  _ alone,  _ or get  _ killed  _ by those fucking things. So just  _ drop it,” _ he practically growled. Taako could feel Angus’s hand trembling in his and he tried not to think about it. Magnus was quiet for a moment before nodding.

“Yeah alright,” he said gently, stepping out of the way. Magnus ruffled Angus’s hair as they walked past, and Taako found himself a little less pissed at the dude. It wasn't like Taako wasn't doing something pointless and stupid, he couldn't blame people for calling him out on it.

Heading up onto the deck of the Starblaster, Lup started towards them as soon as she caught sight of him. He wasn’t surprised that she’d been waiting. She stopped dead in her tracks almost immediately though, a pained look on her face that he really didn’t need right now.

“Taako, it’s- we’re leaving soon,” she said, glancing down at Angus. Fuck, Taako wished people would save this until after it was over and done with. They could deal with his shit once Angus- once he wasn’t a factor anymore.

“I know. We’ll be in my room, let the cap’n know if he asks,” Taako said, still trying to keep up some facade of this all being casual. Lup stared at him for a moment, and then her face softened and she nodded. Taako didn’t know why he ever worried with Lup, she got him.

“Sure thing bro, I’ll see you on deck in a bit,” she said, and Taako nodded, words not wanting to form in his throat much anymore. Then Lup crouched down to be on level with Angus, a somewhat shaky smile on her face.

“Thanks for keeping my bro outta trouble this year. Takes a special kinda person to put up with his bullshit, I would know,” she said. She was doing a real good job of hiding it, but Taako knew his sister well enough to notice the small sheen in her eyes of unshed tears. It made sense, she’d always been the one who’d actually let herself have emotions.

Instead of answering her, Angus let go of Taako’s hand to fall forward into a hug that Lup immediately returned. Taako couldn’t really be surprised. Angus was a familiar sight around the Starblaster at this point. He wasn’t exactly just another nameless person they failed to save at this point, to any of them.

“Sorry we couldn’t do more,” Taako managed to hear her whisper before she pulled away from Angus. As soon as she’d let go Angus grabbed onto his hand again, and Taako didn’t say anything or try to complain.

“I’ll go let Cap’n’port know everyone’s on board,” Lup said, having to clear her throat some before speaking.

“Sounds good,” Taako managed to force himself to say, and then Lup was walking away. It wasn’t far to Taako’s room, and thankfully they didn’t run into anyone else on the way. The sky was nearly solid black at this point, which meant they didn’t have a lot of time left. He didn’t want to spend it explaining over and over again what he was doing.

Of course, once they were in his room, Angus curled up on his bed, Taako didn’t know  _ what _ they were supposed to do.

“You okay pumpkin?” he asked. Angus nodded, but it didn’t seem like it was entirely true. Which, it wasn’t.

“Yeah, when are we leaving?” he asked, not looking at Taako.

“Probably not for a little bit. We won’t be in any serious trouble until the tendrils start touching down, and even then cap’n’port is usually able to push it for a while,” he explained. Angus nodded again, curled up on himself and not seeming to pay attention to much. “You want anything?” Taako asked cautiously, because he just, he didn’t know how to do this shit.

“I don’t know,” Angus said, hiding further in on himself, and his voice was choked with unshed tears that felt like a knife in Taako’s chest. He would know, he’d had it happen before. “I don’t want you to leave,” Angus added, his voice even quieter and there was the feeling of someone twisting that knife now.

“I know. I wish we didn’t have to,” Taako said, and he was actually telling the truth. He fucking wished they didn’t have to leave Angus. He was never supposed to care about this kid but he fucked up and now he did and Lup was right.

Leaving Angus was going to kill him.

“What was the first mystery you ever solved?” Taako asked suddenly. He needed a distraction. Angus uncurled some to give him a look of confusion, his eyes full of tears he was struggling to keep back.

“I’ve already told you about that sir,” he said, but Taako waved that away.

“My memory is shit and I’m a bad listener, tell it to me again,” he insisted. Slowly Angus nodded, taking a deep, shaky breath to steady himself before speaking again.

“Um, well I’d solved a few little things before, just kid stuff like missing pets and those sorts of things. The first real mystery I solved though was a break in a few streets down from my grandpa’s house,” Angus started to explain. Taako had heard this story before, and he remembered it just fine but he nodded along for him to continue anyway.

“What they steal? A buncha creepy porcelain dolls? Several antique paintings of horses?” he asked, and Angus gave a little forced laugh at that.

“No sir, those were later cases,” he joked, which got a snort out of Taako. “It was money mostly, lots of jewelry too. Ms. Milroe was a nice lady, and one Sunday when she was out for lunch with a bunch of her old lady friends they broke in and robbed her blind. Ms. Milroe went out  _ every _ Sunday though, so whoever did it had to of-” he was cut off by the sound of a crash. “What was that?” he asked, and panic that had been slowly easing away returning full force.

“Hunger’s probably starting to touch down. Ignore it, what did the burglar having to know?” he asked, trying to keep Angus distracted. It didn’t work though, Angus springing up to look out the small window in Taako’s room.

“The sky’s falling,” Angus whispered, his voice soft with terror.

“That’s one way to describe it. Come here,” Taako said, and reluctantly Angus pulled himself away from the window. Instead of just moving back to the bed he crawled into Taako’s lap. Taako didn’t complain, wrapping an arm around him and resting his chin on the kid’s head. “So, what happened next? Don’t go leaving me in suspense little man.”

“It um, I knew that whoever- the person who broke in had to be familiar with Ms. Milroe’s schedule,” Angus continued to explain, his voice shaking. Whenever the loud distant crash of one of those pillars slamming into the planet sounded he’d flinch hard in Taako’s arms.

They could’ve left already. There was no real reason to wait, but they were. Taako wasn’t sure if it was helping or not, but he was thankful despite that.

Eventually though they felt the ship start to lift below them, and Angus had stopped trying to tell his story at all anymore.

“No, no no nonono,” Angus started muttering, clinging to Taako in a death grip now.

“Shh, it’s okay pumpkin, you’re okay,” Taako tried to erasure him, even though it wasn’t fucking okay. It was about as far from okay as they could get, and there wasn’t a damn thing Taako could do but  _ lie _ and tell him things were going to be alright.

The Starblaster was fast, there was no way they’d be able to make their escapes otherwise.

It still seemed too fucking soon when Taako began to feel himself be untangled into streams of white light. “Fuck, no not yet,” he said, trying to hold onto Angus tighter even though he knew it was fucking hopeless.

Angus wasn’t even saying anything anymore, just shaking and failing to hold back choked sobs.

And then his arms were empty.

And he was back on the deck of the Starblaster.

It was harder keeping himself together than he thought it would be, and he’d already accepted that shit was going to be pretty fucking hard.

“Taako,” Lup said softly, a hand already on his shoulder.

“Fine,” he managed to choke out. He wasn’t crying, he didn’t fucking  _ cry _ over shit like this. His throat felt thick and his eyes were watery, but he wasn’t crying. “’m fine. It’s stupid,” he muttered, letting Lup start to lead him over to a chair anyway. “Can’t even save one  _ fucking _ kid, bullshit,” he added, not even sure why he was talking anymore.

They’d only managed to get a few steps before the ship was suddenly pitching under them.

“Hey there cap’n uh, what’s going on?” Merle asked, and fuck, something was going on. He needed to focus. He needed to stop thinking about dumb bullshit past stuff. It was over now.

“I don’t- I don’t know. There’s something wrong with the ship. I need to bring her down now,” he said, maneuvering into the new plane much faster than they typically did.

“Were we hit?” Lucretia asked, but Davenport was shaking his head.

“We weren’t hit. I _ know _ we weren’t hit,” he said, which if he said they weren’t hit, than they weren’t. This was important, they needed to figure out what was wrong with the ship. When Taako tried to stand up though Lup pulled him back down.

“Lup,” he said, but she seemed intent not to let him go yet.

“Just sit until we land, we don’t know what’s wrong,” she insisted, which was, ugh it was fair enough. At least she wasn’t being blatant about it being about… yeah.

It was possibly the roughest landing they ever had with Davenport, so like, still kinda smooth all things considered. Definitely bumpy and it almost knocked Taako out of his chair. So it probably would’ve been a deadly crash in any other pilot’s hands.

“Magnus, Merle, I want you two on lookout around the ship. We couldn’t survey the world as we came in so we have no idea what kind of threats might be here. Barry, come with me to take a look at the bond engine, Lucretia you too,” Davenport started to order, the rest of them falling into place.

Once again Taako tried to stand up, to go help figure out what was wrong with the bond engine. They had fucking jobs to do after all, there wasn’t time to sit around moping. Again, Lup stopped him from getting up, and he turned to glare at her.

“We need to go help,” he said, but Lup wasn’t letting go.

“They’ll come get us if they need us. Just take it easy for once,” she said, speaking softly like if she said the wrong thing he’d  _ break. _

“I’m always taking it easy. Just fucking- I could use a distraction right now Lup,” he said, the closest he could come to admitting that he wasn’t okay. He knew Lup could tell anyway, so it wasn’t that big a deal. Lup’s shoulders slumped some at that before slowly nodding.

“Yeah, alright. But we need to talk about this later, oka-” she started to say, cutting off suddenly. Taako didn’t need to ask why, he could hear it too. Uncertain shuffling feet and quiet sniffling. It was coming from further into the ship, and everyone else was out patrolling the deck or looking at the bond engine.

It didn’t make any fucking sense. It had to be wrong somehow. He was hearing things. But Lup looked like she could hear it too, but it wasn’t- it didn’t  _ work _ like that.

Then the door creaked open, and Angus was peaking through, still shaking in fear, his eyes bloodshot and face streaked with tears. It made Taako’s heart fucking ache, but it was- he was  _ here. _

“Angus?” he managed to ask, after gaping in shock for a couple minutes. He was almost afraid to say anything, like Angus would disappear if he did. Like this was a fucking illusion of his dumb brain not able to process the fact that he was just  _ sad _ over this.

As soon as he spoke though Angus was sprinting across the room, and it was a good think Lup had kept him sitting down. Otherwise he’d probably would’ve been thrown on his ass when Angus slammed into him. Taako couldn’t bring himself to be annoyed though, wrapping Angus up in his arms and he  _ didn’t know what was going on. _

“I don’t- I thought I was gonna- you turned into light and then you were  _ gone _ and I felt like I was being pulled apart but then I was still  _ here _ but you were  _ gone _ and then the ship was falling and I didn’t know what to do and I thought I  _ died _ I don’t- I’m so-” Angus was speaking a mile a minute as he sobbed into his shirt. That didn’t make it all that easy to understand the kid, but it wasn’t like any of this made sense anyway.

“Hey, it’s okay, just breathe, you’re okay,” Taako said, and it didn’t feel like it was real. He didn’t know what the fuck was going  _ on _ but he wasn’t going to fucking question it.

“Holy shit. Holy  _ shit!” _ Lup was shouting, disbelief mixed with joy in her voice. Taako could hear her jump to her feet, even if he wasn’t looking up from where Angus was in his lap. He needed to keep an eye on him so he didn’t disappear again. “Guys! Come in here, now!” she called out to the rest of the crew.

It only took a few seconds before the others were rushing back, and Taako wasn’t to make a comment that someone should really keep watch still. He couldn’t seem to get himself to do anything but assure Angus it was going to be okay though.

“Lup what’s wro- holy  _ shit!” _ Davenport said. Angus seemed to be crying less at this point, although he was still burrowed into Taako’s chest like his life depended on it.

“I know right!” Lup shouted, and Taako didn’t need to look up to know the huge fucking grin that was on his sister’s face now.

“That doesn’t- how is he still here? It- we passed into a new plane, didn’t we?” Lucretia asked, sounding as confused as they all fucking felt.

“We definitely did. The hunger’s gone, this is a new reality. He should’ve been erased,” Davenport said, and it really didn’t make any sense. Then Barry was laughing, and Taako managed to look up to actually see the rest of his party now. He was still holding tight onto Angus, carding his fingers through his hair with his other hand.

“Care to share what’s so funny with the class Barold? Cause if you got an idea of what’s going on I’m sure the rest of us would love to hear it,” Taako managed to say, and his voice sounded more hoarse and raw than he was comfortable with.

“Sorry, I’m sorry it’s just- it’s the bonds. That’s why the engine is all fucked up now,” Barry said, which still didn’t make much sense to Taako.

“Did I break your spaceship?” Angus asked, voice still quivering as he looked up at Taako. He instantly started shaking his head, squeezing Angus a little tighter.

“No, you didn’t do anything wrong Ango. You’ll be able to fix it, right?” he asked Davenport pointedly, who nodded.

“Yeah it’s- we’ll be grounded for a while, but I should be able to have it up and running again before the next cycle,” he said. It didn’t sound like he was lying to make Angus not feel bad. He was probably laying off just how fucked it was, but still, Taako could appreciate that.

“Uh, I’m still lost. How the hell is Angus still here?” Magnus asked, which was fair. Barry’s explanation didn’t actually explain shit.

“It’s uh, shit, I’m gonna have to do some more research into this once the engine’s up and running again, but it’s because of the bonds. It has to be, they’re what the ship runs on and they’re that light that rebuilds us every year. It’s- essentially, Taako cares about Angus so much he was able to override him into the bond engine’s system I think. It seemed like it took a lot of energy out of the ship though,” Barry explained. It made more sense than Taako was willing to admit.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Barold. I can’t fucking stand this brat,” Taako muttered, wrapping both arms protectively around Angus in stark contrast to his words. It got him to laugh, which was more of a relief to hear than Taako expected. He’d been so fucking sure that the last thing he was ever going to hear from Angus was him crying in terror.

“Um, does this mean that I get to stay?” Angus asked, still sounding scared that something was going to go wrong.

“Yeah, I mean, I think so?” Taako said, glancing up for some sort of confirmation on that.

“If Barry’s right about him being fitted into the ship’s reset, I think this means he’s staying whether he wants to or not,” Davenport said. Which was more of a relief for Taako to hear than he’d ever admit.

“So, I just want to get everything right here,” Magnus said, still sounding utterly befuddled by all of this. “Taako stole a kid. Taako stole a kid and he’s a dad now, that’s essentially what happened here,” he said, and Taako did not have to fake the offended look on his face at that.

“Fucking false! Do I  _ look _ old enough to be a fucking dad to you?” he snapped. Angus wasn’t clinging to him quite so desperately anymore, but he was still curled up in Taako’s lap, giggling now.

“I love my new nephew so much,” Lup said happy, coming over and wrapping them both up in an exaggerated hug.

“Eh, keep the kid of y’all want but he’s not staying in my room,” Merle said dismissively.

“I fucking hate all of you,” Taako said, before patting Angus on the head. “Not you Ango, you’re a treasure and we’re all glad you’re here,” he added. God, this was fucking terrible. He actually fucking  _ meant _ that.

Slowly everyone started shuffling off to take care of what they were doing before Angus showed up. They still had to figure out what this new world was like, and without the bond engine running at full capacity they were at a disadvantage this cycle. Taako couldn’t bring himself to care  _ that much _ about that though.

“I’m gonna go help out with the bond engine, you two gonna be good on your own?” Lup asked once it was only the three of them again.

“Yeah, go fix our shit. We’ll figure out a place for Ango to stay. Uh, maybe we can clear out one of the smaller research rooms,” Taako said. Lup nodded, standing up and ruffling Angus’s hair.

“Sounds good. Welcome to the family kiddo,” she said before heading out. After a few minutes Taako sighed heavily, trying to pull himself back into some semblance of order.

“Alright, let’s go get you set up. You good to stand?” Taako asked, and Angus nodded, reluctantly crawling out of Taako’s lap. He didn’t disappear as soon as he let go. He was really here.

“Um, Taako?” Angus asked after a moment, sounding nervous.

“What’s up pumpkin?” he asked, trying to still sound casual about all of this.

“Thank you,” he said simply, and Taako didn’t know how to respond to that. After a moment he scoffed, rolling his eyes.

“Didn’t do anything you need to thank me for. Now come on, let’s get you a room,” he said, and Angus was just smiling now.

“Actually sir, I’m really tired. Can we set up my room after a nap or something?” he asked, and Taako nodded. It made sense after the emotional fucking turmoil the kid had to go through.

“Of course pumpkin, let’s get going,” he said, and it wasn’t long before he had Angus bundled up in his bed, out cold.

Taako sat by his side the whole time, slowly coming to terms with the fact that Angus was still here. Still breathing, still existing despite everything saying he should’ve been gone, consumed by the hunger, nothing but dust in their wake.

Taako couldn’t think of a time when he’d ever been more happy to have made a huge mistake. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not gonna lie i teared up writing some of this, that might've been the first time that's happened with a taz fic. also, this is going to be a series now because i really want to write more in this universe, so keep an eye out for those. i will never stop writing taako accidentally becoming a dad, it is my lifeblood. 
> 
> as always thanks for reading and i hope you enjoy~


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